1. Technical Field
The invention disclosed broadly relates to data processing systems and methods and more particularly relates to an improved system and method for manipulating Yomi and Kanji strings in a structured document.
2. Background Art
Related copending patent application entitled "Style Component of a WYSIWYG Text Editor," by K. W. Borgendale, et al., filed May 14, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,793 issued Jan. 4, 1994 assigned to IBM and incorporated herein by reference.
The following terminology is used throughout this patent application and can be used for data base searches.
Hiragana - A set of phonetic characters that were derived by simplifying Kanji. Grammatical elements such as verb and adjective endings, auxiliary verbs, participles, and conjunctions are written in Hiragana.
Katakana - A set of phonetic characters primarily used for words and names of foreign origin, emphasis, and names of plants and animals.
Kanji - A set of ideographic characters originally derived from Chinese characters. Each Kanji has one or more pronunciations associated with it, and the way it is actually pronounced can be determined only after looking at the context (surrounding characters) in which it occurs. Nouns, verb stems, and adjectives are usually written in Kanji. Chinese numbers (Kan Suji) are also included in this category.
Normal State - This state is the finalized text state. The text is normal state may no longer be manipulated with Kanji conversion commands, whether in conversion mode or non-conversion mode.
Yomi State - The Yomi state indicates that the text has not been converted. Yomi text can be either Hiragana or Katakana. Yomi state text can be converted to Kanji when in Kanji conversion mode.
Kanji State - The Kanji state indicates that the text has been converted but not yet changed to normal state. The text in Kanji state can be changed back to the original Yomi state text if the document is in conversion mode.
Fixed/Unfixed - A string is said to be fixed if it has been changed from Yomi state to normal state or form Kanji state to normal state. Yomi and Kanji state strings are unfixed otherwise.
Active State - A Yomi or Kanji state string is in active state if it is ready for Kanji conversion commands, i.e., any conversion commands which are issued will be applied to the active-state text. Text can only be in active state when conversion is enabled, i.e., the system is in conversion mode. In the examples the active-state text will be highlighted in reverse video.
Kana-Kanji Conversion - The sounds of Kanji characters can be represented by Hiragana or Katakana characters. Many Kanji characters have the same pronunciation, so a set of Hiragana/Katakana characters can represent many Kanji characters or strings of Kanji characters. OS/2 maintains dictionaries of Yomi/Kanji pairs which it uses for conversion. Since one Yomi string may correspond to many different Kanji strings, the user will generally have a list of candidates which he may view or cycle through in order to achieve the desired Kanji. This process of translating Hiragana/Katakana into the correct Kanji is called Kana-Kanji conversion. Unconversion is the reverse process of going from the Kanji back to the original Yomi.
Kanji Phrase - A Kanji character or string in Kanji characters which corresponds to a string of Yomi characters in one of the conversion dictionaries used by OS/2.
SGML - Standardized General Markup Language. A markup language consisting of begin and end tags used to prepare structured documents. Refer to International Standards Organization standard 8879-1986 for definition and details.
Element - SGML defined entity consisting of a begin tag and its content including an end tag if necessary.
Structured Document - A document which has a defined hierarchy of elements such as that defined by SGML.
Current editors provide a Kana-Kanji conversion function. However, when in conversion mode, the user's movement is restricted to the active phrase area, i.e., an area specifically designated for entering Yomi and converting it to Kanji before placing the normalized Kanji characters actually into the document. The user may not move the cursor to any other part of the document until he has finished converting the Kanji and placed the normalized Kanji characters into the document. For example, the user is in Kanji conversion mode and enters five Hiragana characters and converts them to Kanji. Cursor movement is now restricted to the Kanji phrase text area. Only after the user fixes (normalizes) the Kanji characters is the cursor free to move to other positions within the document. Therefore, due to this restriction, there can be only one active Kanji state string within the entire document.
In summary, all current editors use a special area outside of the actual document content to create Kanji strings through Kanji conversion routines. Only in this area can Kanji-state text exist and while the text is in Kanji state, the user cannot move the cursor outside of this conversion area. And then, once the Kanji is placed in the document, it is normalized automatically and the user can no longer manipulate this Kanji through the standard Kana-Kanji conversion routines.